Policy and program implications of the Matching Grants Program in the Philippines

In 1999, the Philippines Department of Health, with support from USAID and technical assistance from Management Sciences for Health (MSH), implemented the matching grants program (MGP) as a component of the local government performance program. The MGP aims to improve the capability of municipalities and component cities to expand service delivery, and to achieve significant increases in rates of fully immunized children, vitamin A supplementation, tetanus toxoid immunization for women, as well as in the use of family planning methods, especially modern methods. Upon the request of the USAID Mission, the Frontiers in Reproductive Health program worked closely with MSH to conduct an evaluation of the MGP. This report briefly summarizes the results of the evaluations as a springboard for discussing program and policy issues. Specifically, this analysis attempts to draw out the program and policy implications of the findings from the MGP process and impact evaluations. While questions of sustainability and cost-effectiveness remain, this evaluation uncovered a number of important findings to guide future MGP implementation. The report notes that local government units appear to have identified mechanisms for outsourcing and mobilizing other community resources for this program, including the support of NGOs and other private sectors

Beliefs and practices about reproductive tract infections: Findings from a series of Philippine FGDs

The past decade has been characterized by increasing concern about the medical, social, and economic problems associated with reproductive tract infections (RTIs). The goal of preventing and curing RTIs is now being prioritized by public health agencies in the developing world. Very little research has been conducted on the problem of RTIs in the local context, and it would be helpful for program managers if the knowledge and beliefs now being held about RTIs were more clearly delineated. Knowing more about the way in which these illnesses are viewed by the community, about traditional practices for preventing and curing RTIs, and about the results of ongoing public health initiatives designed to deal with these conditions is also needed. The present study, as this report states, utilizes a qualitative research technique known as focus group discussions as a means of stimulating people to speak up on this subject. While the study won’t provide precise statistical profiles of study respondents, it should allow a first-hand glimpse of the ways in which RTIs are perceived and responded to by a group of typical Filipinos

Gender Equality and Investments in Adolescents in the Rural Philippines

For some time now researchers at IFPRI and else where have been studying how resources are allocated within house holds in developing countries and why it matters from a policy perspective. Many social and cultural factors, as well as economic considerations, influence house hold decisions about the allocation of time, income, assets, and other resources. The recently published IFPRI book, Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Developing Countries: Models, Methods, and Policy, edited by Lawrence Haddad, John Hoddinott, and Harold Alderman, provides an excellent review of the key relationships and empirical evidence. Many studies have looked at the way resources are distributed to men, women, and especially to small children, but one age group within the family has been largely ignored: the adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial period in that teen agers can make major contributions to their families’ welfare through their labor and earnings, in and out side the household, but may sacrifice their own wishes and future well-being in the process if such contributions come at the expense of investments in their education. The research methodology in this report, combining regression analysis with ethnography, provides a lesson in how complementarities between methodological approaches can be exploited. For example, from the regression analysis one might conclude that boys leave school earlier than girls to earn money. However, close questioning of household members makes it clear that the reason many boys leave school is more cultural than economic. Poor parents with limited resources for education tend to direct those resources to the children who have a strong wish to go to school, more of ten girls than boys in the Philippine setting studied here. The research finds that parents are not unduly influenced by short-term needs and are ready to make substantial sacrifices in terms of current consumption in order to invest in their children’s future. The research also concludes that boys and girls in this rural area of the Philippines are generally treated equally, providing a contrast with other Asian settings where discrimination by gender is common